1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to snow vehicles, and more particularly to snow boards powered by an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power-driven board of this general kind is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,648 to Strzok. Strzok describes a more or less conventional planar sled board provided with a broad belt which is driven by an internal combustion engine. The drive unit is disposed inside a box which covers more than one half of the board. The foot supports are provided at the top of the drive unit box, namely at a forward and at a rearward edge thereof, respectively.
The rear of the drive unit of the Strzok board is enclosed. This leads to snow and ice plugging and substantially reduced drive efficiency. In order to prevent such plugging, it is necessary in that prior art board to lower the drive prongs of the drive unit, so as to allow proper snow ejection. The result, of course, is found in the fact that the board is largely supported on the drive unit prongs and board surfing is not properly ensured. Additionally, the track of the Strzok device is mechanically inserted in the side walls of the sleds.
A power-driven ski and a propulsion cleat therefor are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,035,035 and 4,984,648 to Husted. Husted discloses an exposed drive chain and propulsion cleat located behind the operator. One or both skis can be power skis.
It would be desirable to provide a power-driven snowboard, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art devices and methods of this general type and which allows dependable, secure and fast movement on snow and ice, proper snow ejection and superior mechanical stability.